6.1 Language Style
Types of Styles
Formal / Informal Styles
Style is what sets a communicator apart. Style is the way you dress writing up or down to fit the specific context, purpose, content, and audience. Your level of formality, tone and voice, and word choice all contribute to your style in communication. How you choose words and structure sentences to achieve a certain effect creates a certain style in the writing. For example, compare the following two sentences in terms of style:
Examples
“It has been concluded, then, from individual and collective consultation with all departments, that XYZ corporation would benefit from outsourcing staff training in communications.”
“All departments agree that outsourcing staff training in communications is cost- and time-effective.”
Note the level of formality of your words. The first example above is more formal, using “concluded” and “consultation” instead of just saying “agreed.” Most business communications in the U.S. use a relatively informal style. This does not mean that you can use slang or embellishments or write as you would speak to a friend. Informal professional style does mean that you use clear language precisely, without extra words or embellishments, to offer your point directly.
There was a time when many business documents were written in third person to give them the impression of objectivity. This formal style was often passive and wordy. Today it has given way to active, clear, concise writing, sometimes known as “Plain Language” (Schriver, 2017). As business and industry increasingly trade across borders and languages, writing techniques that obscure meaning or impede understanding can cause serious problems. Efficient, relatively informal professional writing styles have become the norm.
To determine if you have a successful style, ask the question: is it professional? If a document is too emphatic, it may seem like an attempt at manipulation. If it uses too much jargon or technical language, it may be appropriate for people with technical expertise but may limit access to information from a nontechnical audience. If the document appears too simplistic, it may seem to be “talking down” to the audience, if your audience has very limited professional knowledge and/or capacity for that knowledge. Does your document represent you and your organization in a professional manner? Will you be proud of the work a year from now? Does it accomplish its mission and stated objectives, and does it fulfill the audience’s needs and expectations? Business writing is not expository, wordy, or decorative, and the presence of these traits may obscure meaning. Business writing is professional, respectful, and clear, communicating a message with precision.
This section is adapted from Style: Formality, Tone & Voice, Word Choice in Communications for Professionals by Susan Oaks licensed under CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial
